5 reasons we just love raw dairy. Why do you choose raw?

Happy Valentine's Day 💖  In honor of St. Valentine, I'd like to tell you about the one thing (other than my wife and family) that I love most - raw dairy!  Truly, it's my passion in life. And, truly, not just any person wants to be a dairy farmer. You have to be committed. The cows need to be milked 2x a day, every day, no matter what (even when I'm feeling crappy). And, when you farm regeneratively, you need to move the cows every day (sometimes multiple times a day). To sum it up -- it's not an easy career! So why do I do it? As I said, I just love raw dairy. And while I'm doing it for myself, I might as well supply you with it, too. Here are the top 5 reasons I love raw dairy: 1-- Raw milk is a real, old fashioned food.  I mean, humans have been drinking raw milk forever as their first food (AKA breast milk). Infant formula was invented in 1865, less than 200 years ago. Before then, all babies got breast milk and only breast milk. And, humans started drinking milk from animals thousands of years ago. Some people speculate that humans probably started taking milk from other animals out of desperation. In a foot shortage or drought, they may have noticed a calf nursing its mother. "Hmmm... maybe I can take some milk, too," they may have thought. Then, they realized it was delicious. And, it was an excellent extra food source, especially in winter or when migrating. It became a staple in cultures around the world and still is. 2-- Raw dairy is probiotic. That's right. Raw milk naturally comes with probiotic lactic acid bacteria. It can boost your immune system, improve digestion, and may even help prevent certain kinds of diseases including cancer. Did you know that your gut contains 80% of the immune cells in your body? It's so important to maintaining good health and having resilience when sick. Your gut works by being in balance. The probiotic bacteria defend you against invading potentially harmful bacteria. The probiotic bacteria in your gut also help you digest food. You can get max nutrition from every bite, have better bowel movements, and have less inflammation when your gut is in balance.  3-- Many people with lactose intolerance can handle raw dairy.  A baby naturally produces lots of lactase enzymes to digest breast milk. Lactase is needed to digest lactose, a sugar in milk. Without it, you can experience stomach upset and other awful symptoms. But, as you get older, you naturally produce less and less lactase. People who are lactose intolerant either don't produce enough lactase or don't produce any at all.  The "magic" of raw milk is that the living microbiology that it naturally contains can jumpstart your body to produce lactase. Amazing! 4-- Keeping it raw makes all the nutrition bioavailable.  Pasteurization destroys or inactivates vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and enzymes. Raw milk, on the other hand, has max nutrition that it fully and easily available to your body. Here's a nice chart from the Raw Milk Institute that sums it up: It's it's no necessarily a matter of the vitamins disappearing or being destroyed altogether. It's more a matter of the milk being altered so your body cannot use vitamins in the milk.  5-- Raw milk can be made into so many yummy foods!  Butter, yogurt, kefir, ice cream, pudding, cheese, paneer, sour cream. The list can go on and on. It's kinda amazing that one simple food - milk - can result in such an array of foods with different textures and flavors. As with most foods, all dairy items were invented accidentally. This is pretty amazing. For example, it's been said that cheese was invented when someone put milk in an animal stomach to go on a long journey. While walking in the hot sun, the enzymes from the stomach coagulated the milk and made cheese. It was delicious, so he did it again and again! Whoever invented ice cream definitely deserves a prize!  Did you know that the same health benefits of raw dairy for humans applies to your furry family as well?  Although it shouldn't be a staple food, feeding raw dairy to your cats & dogs has definite benefits. It add moisture, healthy fats, probiotics, and vitamins and minerals to their diet. It also enriches their life, giving them new flavors and textures to explore.  That's why we offer as much raw dairy as we can! We have raw milk and cream for humans in WV, and raw dairy for cats & dogs everywhere. What's your #1 reason for loving raw dairy?  I'd love to hear from you. Comment below or contact us 🥰 ----- Sources The Origins of Milk: Why Was the First Cow Milked in the First Place?Letter to Medical Professionals about Raw MilkThe Role of Probiotics in Maintaining Gut Health